Tuesday, November 08, 2011

“The tree seems to be a potent symbol of life in human (at least Western) culture, and what better way to augment this symbol by putting the code for life (DNA) at its base? I got this tattoo to commemorate the beginning of my PhD in immunology,” writes Kevin Bonham of Harvard.

Buckminster Fuller became famous for his geodesic domes. In the 1970s, scientists discovered that carbon atoms can form ball-shaped atoms with the same geometry. These "buckyballs" can be found here on Earth as well as in space. Here, Robert Wesel shows off a flattened representation of a buckminsterfullereine.

Daniel Schmoller, a pre-med student at the University of Wisconsin is sporting a tattoo of an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) molecule. One of the most biologically important molecules, ATP transports and stores chemical energy within cells.

Melissa Schumacher’s tattoo of Cantor’s theorem written in Frege’s notation. Schumacher, a third-year grad student at MIT says, "When I look down on my arm, [there are] two lines of symbols, if I turn it over there’s a heart. What my tattoo says is if Cantor’s theorem, then love. It’s a necessary truth for me."

Bob Datta's tattoo of his wife's initials, EEE, encoded into an image of DNA. The code for the protein glutamate is “E.” Depending on how you read Datta's tattoo, it either says “Eliza Emond Edelsberg” or “glutatmate-glutamate-glutamate.” Datta is a neurobiologist at Harvard Medical School and a longtime friend of Carl Zimmer. His tattoo inspired Zimmer’s book Science Ink.